J3YZANT1N11; AKT 165
or architecture. Against these backgrounds of gold the
bright hues of the draperies, the interplay of complementary
colours, and the neutral tones of incidental features are all
combined; the technical skill of the artist matches the refine-
ment of his work; it is one of the characteristic features of
this great artistic movement.
Many of these works and still more the representations
of secular subjects drawn from mythology or history which
decorated the imperial palace and the houses of the great
nobles of this period are derived from this imperial art which
was steeped in memories of antiquity, but was freer and more
elastic and showed a genuine creative power. But opposed
to this official art and very different from it both in spirit and
in method there was a monastic and popular art, more
realistic and dramatic, which, under the growing influence
of the Church, progressively freed itself from the traditions
of Hellenism and in the end ousted imperial art imposing its
own more rigid and austere programme. The tendencies of
this religious art are seen in the newly discovered frescoes
of the rock churches of Cappadocia and in those which
decorate the chapels of hermits in southern Italy. They
appear even more clearly in illuminated manuscripts. It was
the ecclesiastic and monastic influences that finally pre-
vailed, fixing the types, stiffening the poses of the figures,
and eliminating everything that seemed too much the out-
come of individual fantasy, or too suspect of ancient pagan-
ism. Nevertheless, for a long time the two opposing schools
reacted upon each other; they had many qualities in common,
and they shared in one and the same endeavour to inspire
with a new spirit the art of Byzantium.
The truth of these observations is borne out by a study of
illustrated manuscripts. The epoch of the Macedonian and
Comnenian Emperors (from the end of the ninth to the end
of the twelfth century) was unquestionably the most brilliant
period of Byzantine miniature painting. Many fine manu-
scripts have come down to us from this time, several of which,
illuminated expressly for Emperors, are real masterpieces,
revealing the character and the dominating tastes of the age.
What strikes one most in these works is the two opposing
tendencies by which they are inspired. Without dwelling on